Batteries provide an excellent source of power wherever there is a need for portable power and/or whenever the use of wireline power is not desirable or available. Devices powered by rechargeable batteries have become so pervasively integrated into people lives that it becomes a major inconvenience when the devices no longer work because the batteries have been removed or can no longer hold a charge.
For instance, most, if not all, of today's automobiles, back-up power generators, and other devices that employ large engines require batteries to power the devices' electric starters. Moreover, many of these devices use “high-energy” ignition systems to operate the engines after being started. These starting and ignition systems cannot function without being driven from the battery. In addition, many portable computing and telecommunication products use rechargeable batteries as a source of power. When unconnected from a wireline power source, these devices can also fail if the rechargeable battery has been removed or cannot hold a charge.
As is evident from its name, a “rechargeable” battery is a battery that has been designed to be recharged after some or all of the previous charge has been expended.
Most rechargeable batteries can be recharged many times. However, due to the materials, construction, and other battery-technology restrictions, rechargeable batteries eventually fail and can no longer hold a charge.
Further, in the wake of many recent events, such as the destruction of the World Trade Center, the North America Northeast Power-Grid failure, and the on-going worldwide effort to rid the world of terrorism, many have taken an introspective look at back-up power systems, safety-alerting systems and other systems, which use rechargeable battery subsystems in the case of power failure. Upon reflection, a need for detecting when the battery has failed or been removed has been noted.
Besides the inconvenience and annoyance of a missing and/or failed battery, serious conditions can arise when an unsuspecting user goes to use a particular piece of equipment that uses a rechargeable battery for starting and/or operation (e.g., a back-up power system) and is unwittingly surprised that they cannot use the device because the rechargeable battery has been removed (maliciously or not) and/or failed. No matter how much was spent to buy and install the back-up power system, without a functioning rechargeable battery the entire system becomes useless.
Other equally serious conditions can arise with other systems when the battery is absent or cannot hold a charge. While usually only an inconvenience and not seemingly serious initially, portable electronics that use rechargeable batteries, such as cell phones or construction-site walkie-talkies, can place their users in some distressful situations. For instance, when a user relies on one of these devices for emergency purposes, but is unaware that the device's battery has failed or been removed (thereby making the device unusable), he or she may be unsuspectingly surprised when attempting to use the device after an emergency arises.
Given the pervasive use of rechargeable batteries and opportunity for deployment in most any battery charging and testing apparatus or method, it would be desirable to provide an apparatus and method that is capable of detecting battery removal, battery absence and/or defective battery conditions.